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ConventionTV@NAMM 2011 20
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Music & Sound Awards
INSIDE NAMM 2011
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Table of Contents
Digital Issue Download
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Class is in Session
We feature many of the new, hot companies that exhibited at NAMM in January.
Gibson
Indictments Likely
Gibson Guitar is expected to face charges due to alleged illegal wood imports.
NRF Talks Jobs,
Jobs and More Jobs
The key to retailers' success for 2011 is, you guessed it, jobs. But a lot more was discussed at the 100th NRF Annual Convention.
It’s a Record!
We give you a huge review of last month’s NAMM show. Were retailers and manufacturers optimistic for the rest of this year?
MSR Exclusive Interview
Zildjian and Vic Firth have teamed up to form a percussion powerhouse. We met with Craigie Zildjian and Vic Firth at NAMM to give you all of the details about the merger.Music Group's Master Plan
We get an exclusive look at the future of The Music Group, parent of Behringer, Bugera and more. We get an exclusive look at product launches, as well!Knock it Off With the Knockoffs!
Counterfeit products are killing the MI industry. But one company is fighting back big time. We’ll tell you how badly knockoffs could affect the industry if left unchecked.Music & Sound Award Nominees
We release the full list of nominees for Music & Sound Awards. See if your favorite product, person or company is nominated.
Taylor-Made For Europe
Taylor Guitars will sell all of its products directly to dealers in Europe beginning on Jan. 1. Find out why the big change was made and where Taylor’s European headquarters will be. We interview Brian Swerdfeger about it first.We Cover it All!
For the second time, we honor instruments that get zero or little press...
A ‘Super’ Party on Kent Island
Experience PRS loaded up on celebrities, new products and much more. Get the full scoop...
‘Father of RMM’ Passes
Karl Bruhn, a tireless music industry devotee, mentored many and made awareness of health and wellness together a lifelong initiative.
Don’t ‘Skip’ this Story!
Skip’s Music Celebrates 30th Anniversary of its Special Event
I Just Wanna Bang
on the Drums All Day
Your One-Stop Shop For The Holidays!
Heathcare Provision Could
Be a Nightmare
America the Beautiful
Not Doubting Thomas
Mendello Retires, Thomas Named Fender CEO
Music City Mystery
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-The Latest, Industry, Dealers, People and Product Buzz and Showcases.
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NAMM in Photos
A lot happened at NAMM in January to say the least. We capture plenty of it within our three-page NAMM photo collage.
The Music & Sound
Independent Retailer
We cover the sad passing of two prominent retailers and another named the "Citizen of the Year."
Music & Sound Award
Dealer Winners
Our list of dealer winners for the 25th Music & Sound Awards.
Music & Sound Award Manufacturer Winners
Our list of manufacturer winners. And, this time, we got them to provide comments on the victories.
Five Minutes With
Learn tons about Yamaha with Takuya (Tak) Nakata, president of the company's USA division.
MI Spy
Spy took a long flight from the cold of New York to the less cold, but quite windy, San Francisco.
Appraisal Scene Investigation
Rebecca Apodaca takes another look at the legendary guitar builder R.C. Allen.
Sales Guru
Unfortunately, Gene Fresco couldn't attend NAMM for health reasons. But he does have great information about a topic he hasn't covered before. He will help you get into your own head and make you believe. Believe what? Gene will tell you.
Business & Marketing
Carl Mandelbaum will present tips on how to develop your Web site.
Veddatorial
Dan Vedda did attend NAMM. He has a lot of thoughts to share about the show.
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Sharon Hennessey: Loves our industry, you will find out. She'll also tell you why she ultimately decided to join The Music People! And yes, she will definitely fill you in on her goals as a new NAMM board member.
Carla Alger: Being in the music industry is definitely the most exciting opportunity Carla Alger, chief financial officer at Two Old Hippies, has ever had. Find out why.
Dawn Werk:Dawn Werk, Alpha Books’ director of marketing, heads a group that is responsible for 450 non-fiction books. Now that’s a lot! Music is a small, but very important, part of that catalog.
Sonia Vallis: Sonia Vallis might be an only child, but she grew up with a sibling that has now become like another child to her.-
Catherine Polk
Cyndi Fritz
Janet Deering
Kathy How
Sarah Heil
Sue Avant |
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FORMIDABLE FEMALES
Mary Ann Giorgio |
| By Brian Berk
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[May 2010 - Page 1] |
 You really have to love electronics to give up working in the soap opera industry for it. Meet Mary Ann Giorgio, MXL Mics’ marketing and communications specialist, who did just that. “After I graduated from college, I was a teacher for a brief period of time,” she said. “It didn’t work out too well, so someone suggested I look into becoming a writer and editor. I became an editor for the Occupational Safety & Health Administration. I was proofreading and editing federal regulations, which is boring stuff. But you have to pay your dues. I eventually moved onto magazines in the early ’90s. I started with a trade magazine that covered car stereo installations. That was a big business then. Nobody kept the original stereo in their car. Your grandmother wouldn’t even do that. It was a healthy industry until Ford, Toyota and others started rolling out OEM radios that were pretty good. So the magazine got thinner and thinner (due to decreased advertising) and it was time for me to look for a new publishing industry.”
Giorgio switched gears considerably by becoming a field reporter for a soap opera magazine in New Jersey. She covered The Young and the Restless and Days of Our Lives. The job was fun. Giorgio was able to speak to celebrities and was reporting on an industry many people follow religiously.
So why leave the soap opera industry, which is clearly what she did? “I never felt comfortable in that industry,” she said. “It wasn’t as fun as I thought it would be. I liked being a bigger fish in the smaller consumer electronics pond. So I went back to the industry and took a job for a magazine called Audio Video Interiors. It was a high-end, popular consumer book. I was editor-in-chief of that magazine for six years. But the publishing industry took a turn. I was considering getting back into trade magazines, but was recruited by Kenwood. My car stereo background came in handy. Then, I was recruited by Marshall Electronics (parent of MXL).”
Giorgio, who was born in Pittsburgh, moved to her permanent California home when she was 10. She has served MXL for the past one-and-a-half years. She handles MXL’s marketing communications and handles writing manuals and other technical writing. But that’s only one part of the job. The other part, which is equally important, is being a liaison for the press. Giorgio has a unique advantage when it comes to that facet of her position. She knows exactly what it’s like to sit in the music magazine editor’s chair. “I always think of myself as an editor. I work on the manufacturing end now. But I worked for 15 years on the publishing side. You can’t take that out of the girl. People often think editors have 10 people working for them. They are lucky if they have a managing editor. Oftentimes, they need to borrow an editor from another magazine to help out. I understand the pressure and get the editor exactly what he/she wants. If an editor asks for something, I drop everything immediately and get him/her good copy and good photos. When I was an editor, that’s what I wanted.”
Women are certainly in the minority in our industry. However, we are seeing female employment growth. Has being a female provided any specific advantages or disadvantages for Giorgio? “I can’t help but compare MI to consumer electronics (CE), where I worked previously,” she said. “CE was extremely male dominated. There were very few women in manager or marketing positions. And a female vice president was very rare. If you ran into one, it was quite a novelty.
“Some men in the CE industry assumed I didn’t know much about consumer electronics,” continued Giorgio. “But I actually could install stereos and home theater systems. But you can’t just say you know something. I had to prove it over time.”
MI was different for Giorgio, however. She found MI to be much smaller, but also a little friendlier than CE. “People in MI never assumed I didn’t know anything,” she said. “In fact, engineers at MXL heard about my CE background and assumed I did know about a lot of things. But I still had to endure a six-month learning curve when moving to MI because there isn’t much overlap. For example, I had to know the difference between a receiver and a preamp compressor. I just wrote a manual on a preamp compressor. It was much harder than anything I ever wrote in the CE industry.”
Southern California-based Marshall Electronics is one of the largest manufacturers of broadcast monitors in the world. The MXL Microphone division was founded more than a decade ago. MXL manufactures affordable recording condenser microphones.
What made Giorgio a cut above other candidates for the job at MXL? “I think the Kenwood name was big for me. The name still packs some punch.”
Added Giorgio: “Another thing I believe MXL liked about me is I told them I’m not a button-up type of person. I said I’m flexible. I can work in a big environment or a small environment. In today’s environment, you have to be flexible. I’m really an easy going person.”
Giorgio is a single mother who spends most of her free time making sure her 10-year-old son, Nick, has as good a childhood as she had. “Every night we go out into our yard and play baseball,” Giorgio said.
Giorgio loves to take Nick to L.A. Dodgers and Angels baseball games.
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